Chinese netizens make fun of NYT Google hacking report

JINAN, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A report claiming cyber attacks on Google and other firms originated from two Chinese educational institutions is being jeered at by Chinese netizens.

"The report is sheer nonsense. Is it April Fools' Day?" netizen sdh13814021912 commented at the www.tianya.cn forum.

The New York Times reported that unidentified security investigators traced the attacks to computers at Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) and Lanxiang Vocational School, which the report alleged has ties to the Chinese military.

The report attracted great attention from Chinese netizens. Many laughed at the suggestion that a simple vocational school, which mainly offers courses like cooking, auto repair, hairdressing and basic computer skills classes, had the capacity to stage the cyber attacks.

"The news is doomed to be a joke," netizen Jinse Xueguang said.

"A vocational school being used as camouflage for military-sponsored hacker training camp. Am I reading a science fiction?" said another netizen azydn.

Many also joked that the report was like a free advertisement and helped Lanxiang, the vocational school, gain international fame.

"Computer science majors should go to Lanxiang for master degree," netizen Black said at the forum of www.renren.com.

"I believe more and more young Americans will come to learn computer science in Lanxiang soon," joked netizen Guchen Cangren.

While netizens are making fun of the report, the unexpected spotlight has troubled the schools.

"We don't want such fame, because the report is groundless," said Li Zixiang, Party chief of the vocational school.

Both Lanxiang and SJTU said the NYT report was unfounded, and denied being behind the cyber attacks on Google and other American companies.

"We computer students do not have to demonstrate our talent through hacking attacks," said a student surnamed Xu at SJTU's Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

"Hacking goes against the law, and we have been taught to abide by the law while studying cyber knowledge and using the Internet," he said.

Another student surnamed Kong said he felt indignant as the New York Times report lacks evidence.

"It is not at all convincing to identify an attacker just by his IP address alone, as the real hacker can use Trojan horse techniques to remotely control a computer and launch attacks on a specified target," he said.

Google said last month that it might pull out of the Chinese market, citing disagreement with government policies and unidentified attacks targeting Google's services in China.